AMHERST, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - The Amherst fire chief says call volumes are going up every year and to meet that demand, the town has launched a three-year plan to bolster staffing levels.

Four new hires are already in training: one to fill a vacancy, one replacing a position frozen by previous budget cuts, and two that are brand new.

The goal is to reach a minimum staffing level of ten people per shift within two years. Currently, that number drops as low as seven during the summer months.

Chief Lindsay Stromgren says the four new positions are critical to ensure that even if all three ambulances are out on calls, there is still a fully staffed four-person fire engine ready to respond to an emergency.

“Any time that we can guarantee that when a fire call comes in, we can send a four-person engine company as the initial arriving company to that call, that’s huge for both the firefighter’s safety and public safety,” he said.

While many neighboring towns have had to ask voters for tax overrides to fund emergency services, Amherst is funding these new positions through ambulance billing receipts.

For some who have lived in the town for decades, this increase is a change they say is long overdue.

“They have hired four new people ... long overdue. It’s not enough, it’s nowhere near enough,” said one resident.

The four new recruits are currently in the middle of a four-week orientation. Once that’s finished, they will be assigned to shifts where they will begin monitoring and eventually head to the fire academy or paramedic school.

The chief also noted that the department has applied for a federal safer grant. If approved, that would fund an additional six positions which would allow them to reach their staffing goals even faster.

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